Photographs from The Museum of Modern Art

A selection of over 400 photographs from The Museum of Modern Art, New York, being sold to benefit the acquisition fund for the Museum’s Department of Photography

In 1940, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) became the first museum in the country to establish a department devoted to photography, effectively cementing the importance of this art form in the eyes of the world. The artists represented in this series of live and online auctions will be deeply familiar to all students of photography, and their place in photographic history was often established through MoMA’s exhibition program, which helped bring their work to audiences in New York and worldwide. They include Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, Ansel Adams, Berenice Abbott, Man Ray, Dorothea Lange, Bill Brandt, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Garry Winogrand and Walker Evans, among many others.

With strong results from the live sale on 10 October 2017 that set a world auction record for Peter Beard and highlighted Irving Penn who had four lots within the top 10 sale results, the series of seven online-only auctions have added to such successes. Focusing on themes such as the shift from Pictorialism into Modernism and the role of women in the history of photography as well as spotlighting the works of individual photographers, the remaining online auctions in January and April 2018 speak to the history and importance of MoMA's exhibition programme. MoMA emerges as a progressive institution where artists who pushed the boundaries of photography could find support and a platform for expression.